What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? | askTheocast.com

Hi, this is John, and on today on Ask Theocast, I'm answering Andrew's question, which he asked, what does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? This is a great question. It's often used, this verse is used in Ephesians, to guilt people, to cause them to have fear if they don't obey enough, or if they don't pursue godliness enough, and then their salvation sometimes is called into question.

The Gospel Context of Ephesians

So, I don't think that's the intention that Paul had when he wrote this. If you look at the book of Ephesians, the whole first three chapters are about the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, how God saves sinners, he chose him before the foundation of the world, and that it's not by workless and emanship.

It's just, it's a beautiful explanation of the hope that we have outside of ourselves in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Then in chapter four, he turns towards the church and says, now, if this be true of you, then you need to respond in a worthy manner, and the way in which he says this is, it's not an individual obedience, and it's not focused on the individual Christian really at all, he focuses in on the function of the church, where he says that the spirit comes, and he gifts those with teaching and preaching and prophecy, he gifts those with the ability to give and show charity and kindness and love, and then he says when the church functions properly, it builds itself up in love, so that's the context of chapters one through three and chapters four, is the focus is on our assurance in Jesus Christ by faith alone, and then our response to that is we grow in this faith, we are strengthened in this faith when we participate in the body.

Unity in the Body and Not Grieving the Spirit

So then he warns about what can cause that unity, he even says that we are unified, we become one because of the spirit that lives within us. Let me just read to you chapter four, so a couple of verses before, when he says don't grieve the spirit, in verse 25 he says, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with this neighbor, for we are members of one another, so the spirit that lives within all of us binds us together.

It makes us one together, so that's kind of the context. So then if you look at verse 30, when he says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, again, he's already told us in context that the spirit of God is that which lives within all of us, who binds us together, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

So what can cause the grieving or the spirit or cause division within the body? He says this, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from among you, along with all malice.

Practical Exhortation to Preserve Gospel Unity

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God and Christ forgave you. So what he's actually going after is anything that could potentially cause friction within the body of Christ and prevent us from staying unified around the gospel, so the gospel that strengthens us and the gospel that can go out to those who are lost, so the fear or the worry is not centered around, you better do right or God's coming after you.

Paul is concerned that believers will not understand the priority and the purpose around staying unified in the gospel. I mean, chapter four, verse one, just go back and read it. It says, make every effort to remain in unity, the bond of peace, and that peace comes to us through our unity of the spirit in Jesus Christ.

So hopefully that was encouraging for you. Please ask us more questions at our website, share this with anyone that might find this encouraging, and we'll see you next week.